Media

Climate emergency public statement key messages

In 2010 Malcolm Turnbull said: “Our efforts to deal with climate change have been betrayed by a lack of leadership, a political cowardice, the like of which I have never seen…”.

Nothing has changed.

Australians understand an emergency: a situation of threat or escalating threat with severe consequences for life and property that requires urgent preventive intervention. Our climate is getting hotter and more extreme, with sea level rises already in the system set to inundate our coastlines. A hotter climate will undermine global food and water security, and challenge how and where we live and work unless we take big steps right now.

We are out of time for slow, gradualist policy. The emergency action call is increasingly being taken up by leading scientists and responsible leaders around the world as extreme events escalate.

“This is an emergency and for emergency situations we need emergency action,” says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“We are in a kind of climate emergency now… It is becoming more and more urgent. Time has almost run out to get emissions down. That’s the real emergency,” says Professor Stefan Rahmstorf of Potsdam University.

The future of human civilisation, and the survival of the precious ecosystems on which we depend, now hang in the balance.

We have experienced the hottest year on record in 2015, and an alarming global temperature spike of more than 1.5°C of warming in February 2016. Our Great Barrier Reef and the ancient Tasmanian forests are being destroyed by global warming.

It is clear that the current warming of just one degree Celsius is not safe and already dangerous. For example, a one-metre sea-level rise which is currently in the system would inundate 15-17% of the land area of Bangladesh, wipe out nearly 40% of the Mekong Delta, flood one-fourth of the Nile Delta and depopulate many small-island states. One degree Celsius is and will have would have devastating impacts on sea levels, food security, the polar icecaps, and extreme events unless we can reduce the current level of greenhouse gases back to a safe level. 2 degrees of warming would be very dangerous.

Climate policy is not providing a secure future for Australians. The implications of rising sea levels and drowning and failed states are underestimated. Declaring a climate emergency and initiating a society-wide mobilisation unprecedented in peacetime to make action on global warming the nation’s highest-level priority, and internationally, is now necessary.

We are out of time. In a similar manner to facing a large threat such as fire, flood and storm or military threat, we now need to “throw everything” we can at the climate problem, with emergency-scale and speed of action to decarbonise the Australian economy. This means:

• An immediate ban on new coal and gas developments, and full plan for coal closures.

• An emergency-speed transition to zero emissions including for greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, and an all-sector national energy efficiency plan.

• Find the ways to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases back to a safe level.

• Strong public leadership and honesty about the problem and the path to solving it.

Epidemiologist Professor Fiona Stanley said she is already measuring the health impacts of global warming: “We are doing too little, too late. As a society we need to step up.”

We need courage rather than procrastination from our aspiring leaders.

Climate emergency quotes

“It’s a climate emergency. The whole world is watching as global temperature records are shattered, and one of the Earth’s true natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef, bleaches and dies. The climate emergency we’ve been talking about for 30 years is upon us. We really have entered the phase of now or never. Our actions now determine the world our children and grandchildren will live in. We’ll need to be strong to hold our state and federal governments to account and ensure they rise to the crisis.”Mark Wakeham, CEO, Environment Victoria

“We have a global crisis. Pope Francis reminded us that we are on a suicide course. … This is a difference between understanding that we have a crisis of historical consequence here, and incrementalism and those little steps are not enough. Not right now. Not on climate change.”Bernie Sanders, American senator » Read more

“We are in an emergency, and I think that the more we can use that word the better. At the moment, to a lot of people, that seems like an extreme thing to say, but it is actually an acknowledgement of the physical reality.”Christine Milne, former Greens senator » Read more

“We’re being taken for fools by the political system. Politics is broken in this country. Money has stopped the real issues being addressed. The main environmental groups are also not honest about the problem. The NGOs are as much a part of the failure as anybody else.”Ian Dunlop, former coal executive » Read more

“Just as we have faced fire, flood, drought and military threat in the past we now need to throw everything we can at the climate crisis. We must make action on global warming the nation’s highest-level priority.”Paul Barratt, former Secretary of the Departments of Defence, former CEO of the Business Council of Australia » Read more

“The unprecedented rate of global warming is melting the polar ice caps, raising sea levels and undermining food and water security for many of the world’s peoples. Action has been too slow, because economics has trumped physics. Now emergency action is the only rational response.”David Spratt, science author » Read more

“We are in the middle of a climate emergency.”Adam Bandt, Australian politician » Read more

“We cannot keep heading in the same direction and then perform some miraculous handbrake turn just before we reach ‘catastrophic climate change’. Climate change is already catastrophic, and it’s going to get more catastrophic. The faster we get our act together the more we will save, but every delay in cleaning up our act, every new coalmine and every new airport, is a death sentence for something or someone.”John Sauven » Read more

“All of us are fully aware how wrong it is to falsely yell ‘Fire’ in a crowded theatre. But we are also aware of how wrong it is to sit silently while a fire begins to spread.”Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University

“Imagine there is a fire in your house. What do you do? … Your senses are heightened, you are focused like a laser, and you put your entire self into your actions. You enter emergency mode.”Margaret Klein Salamon, Founding director of The Climate Mobilization » Read more

“Its like watching a train wreck in slow motion, where the passengers just want to party on in sheer oblivion. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten are studiously avoiding acknowledging the elephant in the room. Today its the Reef and floods, tomorrow it could be the loss of large swathes of mid-ocean phytoplankton, and with it any hope of self regulation of escalating CO2 by the planet.”Len Botterill » Read more

“This is not a left or right wing political issue. This is an existential issue. If we don’t get it right, we all have a very big problem. What we need is a Government of National Unity.”Ian Dunlop, former coal executive » Read more

“Today we must say that promoting gradual solutions to a climate crisis gone critical is a form of silence that will lead to global catastrophe. For the world to take the climate emergency seriously, we in the climate movement ourselves have to do that. We must loudly speak the truth of the critical climate emergency we are facing and the World War II-scale mobilization needed to address it.”Patrick Mazza, co-founder and former research director of Climate Solutions, Delta 5 activist, author of Cascadia Planet » Read more

Media releases

27 February 2017:

Climate Emergency Declaration at Parliament House Canberra Today

Media are invited to attend the following event today at the front forecourt at APH – Monday Feb 27 for:

1. 12 Noon SHARP 15 minutes only – Photos and statements by Dr John Hewson, Ian Dunlop, Adam Bandt MP and Pat Conroy MP on the occasion of the hand over of a petition calling on the Australian Parliament to declare a climate emergency

Former leader of the Opposition Dr John Hewson and federal Members of Parliament for Melbourne Adam Bandt MP and for Shortland New South Wales Pat Conroy MP will today join with engineering kayak adventurer Steve Posselt at the front door of Parliament House in Canberra to deliver a petition containing over 18,000 signatures calling on the Australian Parliament to declare a climate emergency.

After 1150km of ocean paddling along the New South Wales coast from his home in Ballina, Steve Posselt – engineer, grandfather of 5 and ocean-kayaking ecowarrier – has now also completed 180km of dusty hot trekking on foot to arrive at last at the front doors of Parliament House in Canberra.

‘Engineers have always been at the forefront of providing solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems. But sometimes engineers have to do more than just respond to a design challenge. They need to lead. And Steve is doing just that with his climate change journey. A great inspiration to all of us.’—-Adrian Piani, Environmental College of Engineers Australia

‘Given the latest evidence, it is almost impossible to now keep the temperature increase below 1.5°C or even 2°C with the current approaches,’ says Ian Dunlop, former chair, Australian Coal Association. ‘We have left it too late to solve the climate dilemma with a graduated response; emergency action, akin to placing economies on a war footing, remains essential.’—–Ian Dunlop, former chair, Australian Coal Association

‘If everything promised at Paris is delivered, the planet will likely see global warming exceed a three degree rise above pre-industrial temperatures. Three degrees means no Arctic or Antarctic ice, no glaciers, and very likely no humans.’—–Steve Posselt, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Engineers

‘In World War 2, faced with an extreme threat, countries mobilised their economies for action in years not decades. Now, faced with the accelerating catastrophic impacts of climate change we need to act equally decisively and at the same huge scale – to deliver ‘victory’, that is the restoration of a safe climate. The Climate Emergency Declaration petition is putting this approach on the agenda for the community and governments.’—-Philip Sutton, co-author of Climate Code Red

‘The Climate Emergency Declaration and Mobilisation petition is a tangible expression of the growing public demand for an effective full-scale response to the climate reality.’—-Margaret Hender, one of the organisers of the petition

“ACT MLAs Chris Steel and Caroline Le Couteur will be among those today welcoming kayaking ecowarrior Steve Posselt to Canberra, along with a petition calling on the Australian Parliament to declare a climate emergency and mobilise resources to reverse the climate crisis”

“After 1200km of ocean paddling along the New South Wales coast from his home in Ballina, Steve Posselt – engineer, grandfather of 5 and ocean-kayaking ecowarrier – is now set to complete 180km of dusty hot trekking and a 4km paddle down the Molonglo River into Canberra’s West Basin at 11am today.

As well as dragging his kayak behind him from Moruya to Queanbeyan, he and his team are also lugging a big box of petitions containing over seventeen thousand signatures gathered from all over Australia, and all asking the Australian Parliament for one thing – a Declaration of a Climate Emergency by the Australian Parliament.

Caroline Le Couteur MLA and Chris Steel MLA will officially receive and welcome Steve to Canberra and will join a range of experts speaking about the climate emergency declaration at the lakeside reception starting at 11 including Phil Sutton, the coauthor of Climate Code Red, David Hood AM deputy chair of Beyond Zero Emissions and John McIntosh the President of Engineers Australia.

Then on Monday February 27 at noon on the Parliament House front forecourt the Kayak4Earth team will pass the petition to Adam Bandt MP, and be part of a hand-over event including John Hewson former Leader of the Liberal Party and Ian Dunlop the former Chair of the Australian Coal Association.

“The petition I will deliver on Monday to Adam Bandt MP asks Parliament to declare a climate emergency and mobilise resources to restore a safe climate. It can be signed at http://climateemergencydeclaration.org/sign.”—-Steve Posselt

Canberrans wishing to add their names to the petition before it goes to Parliament on Monday can do so at any of the several public appearances of Steve and his yellow sea kayak ‘Old Yella’ all weekend in Canberra. Check the Kayak4Earth Facebook and climate emergency mobilisation Facebook pages for details – and look for the yellow kayak.

‘Engineers have always been at the forefront of providing solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems. But sometimes engineers have to do more than just respond to a design challenge. They need to lead. And Steve is doing just that with his climate change journey. A great inspiration to all of us.’—-Adrian Piani, Environmental College of Engineers Australia

‘Given the latest evidence, it is almost impossible to now keep the temperature increase below 1.5°C or even 2°C with the current approaches,’ says Ian Dunlop, former chair, Australian Coal Association. ‘We have left it too late to solve the climate dilemma with a graduated response; emergency action, akin to placing economies on a war footing, remains essential.’—–Ian Dunlop, former chair, Australian Coal Association

‘If everything promised at Paris is delivered, the planet will likely see global warming exceed a three degree rise above pre-industrial temperatures. Three degrees means no Arctic or Antarctic ice, no glaciers, and very likely no humans.’—–Steve Posselt, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Engineers

‘In World War 2, faced with an extreme threat, countries mobilised their economies for action in years not decades. Now, faced with the accelerating catastrophic impacts of climate change we need to act equally decisively and at the same huge scale – to deliver ‘victory’, that is the restoration of a safe climate. The Climate Emergency Declaration petition is putting this approach on the agenda for the community and governments.’—-Philip Sutton, co-author of Climate Code Red

‘The Climate Emergency Declaration and Mobilisation petition is a tangible expression of the growing public demand for an effective full-scale response to the climate reality.’—-Margaret Hender, one of the organisers of the petition

Whiting Beach prepares for climate kayaker’s arrival

Steve Posselt, kayak adventurer, ecowarrior and Grafton Primary and High Schools old boy, arrives at Whiting Beach, Yamba, 5.00pm Monday 2 January on the last leg of his Connecting Climate Chaos journey that has taken him around the world.

On New Years Day 2017 he will bring out ‘Old Yella’ for the last time when he sets off from Ballina to collect 100,000 signatures for the Climate Emergency Declaration petition.

His journey is 1,200 kilometres down the coast to Moruya and then 180 kilometres dragging the kayak up the mountains to Canberra.

Posselt said that paddling into New York past the Statue of Liberty, paddling past Big Ben in London, and paddling to the steps at the Eiffel Tower in Paris were the emotional highs on his journey but that nothing beats paddling in his own country.

There are around a dozen events organised at cities and towns on the way, including Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, and finally Canberra.

The petition Posselt will deliver to Canberra asks Parliament to declare a climate emergency and mobilise resources to restore a safe climate. It can be signed at www.climateemergencydeclaration.org/sign

Quotes

Ian Dunlop, former chair, Australian Coal Association:
“Given the latest evidence, it is almost impossible to now keep the temperature increase below 1.5°C or even 2°C with the current approaches. We have left it too late to solve the climate dilemma with a graduated response; emergency action, akin to placing economies on a war footing, remains essential.”

Steve Posselt, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Engineers:
“If everything promised at Paris is delivered, the planet will likely see global warming exceed a three degree rise above pre-industrial temperatures. Three degrees means no Arctic or Antarctic ice, no glaciers, and very likely no humans.”

Philip Sutton, co-author of Climate Code Red:
“In World War 2, faced with an extreme threat, countries mobilised their economies for action in years not decades. Now, faced with the accelerating catastrophic impacts of climate change we need to act equally decisively and at the same huge scale – to deliver ‘victory’, that is the restoration of a safe climate. The Climate Emergency Declaration petition is putting this approach on the agenda for the community and governments.”

Margaret Hender, one of the organisers of the petition:
“The Climate Emergency Declaration and Mobilisation petition is a tangible expression of the growing public demand for an effective full-scale response to the climate reality.”

Media coverage

TV

9News

“Aussie adventurer Steve Posselt plans to deliver a petition to the federal government calling for action on climate change – with his kayak in tow. Mr Posselt will paddle 12,000km along the New South Wales coast before dragging his kayak all the way to Canberra. “I can only see it as an emergency to do something about it,” Mr Posselt told 9NEWS. “I’ve got five grandchildren and I don’t want them to experience the worst of what can happen.””

Newspapers, magazines, radio programs

Storify | Takvera

“End of a two month journey for Steve Posselt from Ballina to Canberra in his kayak down the coast of New South Wales. At the end of the trip the petition had gathered 18,101 signatures (with petition still open for signing)…”

“This occasion brought together not just many sides of politics but also involved collabortion between the worlds of engineering and climate emergency declaration campaiging.”

Presenter Greg Bayliss: “A lot of people are concerned the climate, and degradation of our climate, and many of them are getting their messages to people in power in various ways. Well, Steve Posselt has probably trumped anybody who has gone before by way of delivering his message. He is currently paddling his way along Lake…”

“Engineer Steve Posselt worries about climate change. He worries so much that he even paddled his sea-kayak Old Yella in France to Paris for the critical climate change talks in 2015. Posselt believes we are in a state of climate emergency. He says we need to accept the science, ask governments to declare a climate emergency, and immediately mobilise resources at a massive scale.”

“Steve Posselt received a warm welcome and farewell at Crookhaven Heads on Sunday, February 5. The kayak adventurer set off from Ballina on New Year’s Day and is on a mission to raise awareness of climate change. He’s out to collect 100,000 signatures for the Climate Emergency Declaration petition, which he’ll deliver to Canberra politicians at the end of his journey.”

“Local climate action group Eurobodalla 350.org is gathering people to paddle their canoes and kayaks on the Moruya River to welcome Steve Posselt on February 14 at 12 noon. Steve is paddling his kayak from Ballina to Moruya and then dragging the kayak up to Canberra to deliver the Climate Emergency Declaration petition. Eurobodalla Deputy Mayor, Cr Anthony Mayne will hand Steve a bundle of locally signed petitions to take to Federal Parliament.”

“Kayaker and climate change campaigner Steve Posselt made a safe arrival at Kiama on Thursday night. The stopover was part of his epic kayak journey from his home in Ballina to Parliament House, Canberra. He set out on January 1 and plans to present his petition in Parliament House on February 25. Posselt paddled into Wollongong Harbour on Wednesday. He was welcomed at Kiama Harbour by Kiama Deputy Mayor Kathy Rice, Kiama councillor Andrew Sloan and a crowd of approximately 50 supporters.”

“A kayaker has arrived in Wollongong during a journey from Ballina to Canberra to deliver a petition on climate change. Steve Posselt’s petition has called on the Federal Government to “declare a climate change emergency and to mobilise resources to restore a safe climate”. The petition has gathered about 12,000 signatures but Steve said he wants 100,000 before he arrives at Parliament House on February 25.”

“Steve Posselt paddled into Wollongong harbour on Wednesday and will arrive in Kiama Thursday evening with a message about climate change.
The 64-year-old is kayaking from Ballina to Canberra gathering signatures to declare climate change an emergency.”

“On New Years Day Australian climate activist Steve Posselt set off on his kayak from Ballina. His goal is to journey 1,200 kilometres down the coast to Moruya, and then to drag the wheeled kayak 180 kilometres over the mountains to Canberra. During the eight week trip, he is aiming to collect and deliver 100,000 signatures for the Climate Emergency Declaration petition…”

“He’s an eco-warrior and Aussie adventurer who will be kayaking into Newcastle as part of the last leg of a “Connecting Climate Chaos” journey that has taken him around the world. Steve Posselt, 64, has kayaked more than 13,000 kilometres to raise awareness of climate change, including journeying up the Mississippi River, across the Great Lakes of North America, in the Arctic Circle and across the English Channel…”

“He’s a former Port Macquarie resident who is completing the final leg of an epic around the world kayak adventure.
And it’s all in the name of climate change. During his adventure Steve Posselt has battled…”

“2016 was a year of damaging storms, droughts, heat waves and catastrophic coral bleaching. One adventure activist is on a kayaking mission, determined to make the Federal Government take climate change seriously…”

“A former Grafton High School student has learned a thing or two about the effects of climate change and he will take to the water in his canoe “Old Yella” to spread the word. He expects to arrive in Yamba at about 5pm on Monday after setting out from Ballina on New Years Day on the last leg of his Connecting Climate Chaos journey that has taken him around the world…”

“Coffs Harbour will be paid a visit by legendary Kayaker Steve Posselt next week. On a mission to deliver a national petition calling for the declaration of a climate emergency, Steve will travel from Ballina to Canberra….”

“‘If we do everything we committed to in Paris we are dead meat,’ said local Ballina climate warrior Steve Posselt. This is the reason Steve is bringing his kayak, Old Yella, out for one last trip – because current commitments to reduce greenhouse gasses are just not enough…”

“The effects of climate change are clear and growing. Now a group of concerned scientists and activists are calling on the government to declare a state of “climate emergency”, and have even drafted legislation to illustrate what such a move could look like.”

“In an emergency, which I really do believe we’re in when it comes to the climate, everything changes. In an emergency you all jump in and do whatever you can – nobody really cares if it’s an equitable distribution of effort. Those who can do a lot do a lot, those who can do a little do a little – you just get on with it.”Margaret Hender

“We are in an emergency, and I think that the more we can use that word the better. At the moment, to a lot of people, that seems like an extreme thing to say, but it is actually an acknowledgement of the physical reality,” said former Senator Christine Milne when she was interviewed live on air.

Blogs and social media

Citizen Journalism

“The issue being raised is a fundamental one which affects us all and future generations, yet political silence reigned. The letter comes near the end of the second last week in the Federal election campaign.”John Englart